oOo A L I V E oOo
by aminea88
Summary: Investigating her strangest case yet; prodigy investigator Saki Honoka's only lead is a strange new transfer student with curious white hair and a bad attitude. But what happens if what she finds is more then she bargained for? Hitsugaya X OC
1. Saki Honoka

**oOo A L I V E oOo**

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****Summary: 14 year old Saki Honoka was born with a unique ability that allows her to see and know things others cannot. Her job as a prodigy detective grants her media spotlight, which she does not want. While investigating the meaning behind a strange spike in Japan's suicide rate, her only lead is a strange new transfer student with curious white hair and a bad attitude. But what happens if what she finds is more then she bargained for? Hitsugaya X OC **

**Genres: Romance/Drama/Humour/Mystery/Action**

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**For those who were expecting another twilight fanfiction I AM SORRY. **

**Welcome to my second attempt at a Bleach story! For the one or two people who have read my fail of a first one, know that my writing has improved greatly since then and I am happy to present you with chapter one of ALIVE. This will be a rather long story, so I hope you all stick with me to the end! **

**Hope you enjoy!**

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**Chapter One: Saki Honoko **

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The low rumbling of the road beneath the tires was all I could hear as I drifted in and out of sleep. It was a long day at HQ today, and yesterday, and the day before that. With the case finally closed, I was excited to finally get home so I could get the first decent nights sleep in over a week.

The other person in the car was my aunt. I was put under her care as a child because my parents were (and still are) more interested in their work then raising their child. They are usually in America on business. When I was small, they would come home every other weekend to see me, but they don't even bother doing that anymore.

I fell asleep for all of ten minutes before I was jerked awake by the car tires hitting a particularly nasty pothole, and the low cursing of my aunt next to me. I looked around to see what the problem was. I groaned loudly when I saw the vans parked along the street in front of my house; the media was here. I knew this peace could not last.

"I know you are tired, Honoka, but please remember who you are." She warned strictly.

I grunted in acknowledgment. I knew what she meant. I was Saki Honoka, the sweet, cute, young investigator who could solve any case using superior intellect and deduction skills.

Yeah right. If the media could actually see what was behind the fake smile and the makeup; they would see a less-then average fourteen year old, born with a strange ability that allows her to see what others couldn't and shouldn't. Other then that, my face looked less then average; my intelligence was less then average (just ask my science teacher!), and I was defiantly not the sweet little princess my aunt made me out to be.

We pulled into my long cobblestone driveway. My house was a twenty minute or so drive from Tokyo, and the closest neighbor to us was a good half a mile a way. My aunt and I moved to here a few months ago, in a failed attempt at reducing the number of reporters knocking on our door. This move was made on my request. My aunt loved the media spot light.

Before we even turned off the car, there were reporters running towards us. I counted three different television stations, and a few from the local and national newspapers. I think there were also one or two freelance journalists here as well. How annoying.

I jumped out of the car with a smile that looked like there was nobody on this earth I could have wanted to see more then this group of reporters. All of them seemed to want to be the first one to speak, so there was a minute of two of all of them shouting questions at once before some sort of order was established.

"This case of the serial kidnappings has been under investigation for a month now, but you solved it in a week! Please, do you have any comments on the out come?!" Shouted one reporter.

Before I could answer, another shouted. "Do you have any information you could give us regarding the accused? When will the court proceedings start?"

"I am sorry but there is no additional information I can give at this time. More information regarding all this will be announced tomorrow…"

"Saki-chan, at the young age of 14 you have already become a top notch investigator at the JNBCI. What is the secret of your success?! "

With that, I gave a sweet smile and replied, "Trade secret."

"Ok everyone! Saki-chan is very tired and needs her rest! Please save anymore questions for another time!" My aunt is the Chief Investigator at JNBCI, people who know what's good for them know not to piss her off.

"Saki Yukiko, you are the aunt of Saki-chan correct? Is she currently under your care…?" one last gutsy reporter asked as the rest turned to leave.

"I have raised her since she was a child. She is like a daughter to me and I am very proud of her. Now if you please… It's rather late." Her voice held a note of finality. There were going to be no more questions tonight.

We hurried inside the house as the reporters left. My stupid mask disappeared as soon as the door shut behind us. Without saying goodnight I headed to bed.

I was always bitter towards Aunt Kiko after things like that happened. After all it was her fault that I had to deal with all this. However a nagging voice inside of me always reminds me that I owe it to her.

My parent's original plan was just to give me to some adoption agency. They didn't have the time or skills to raise a child. However, Aunt Kiko offered to take me in. This decision was largely influenced by the fact that she could have no children of her own, because of a car accident when she was a teen, left her barren; but I still owe her so much.

I went straight to the washroom to wash my face of the makeup my aunt applied this morning. Meaning she knew that we would be bumping into media monsters (that's what I call the reporters) today. What a pain.

After I got all remnants of the black eyeliner and mascara from my face I looked at myself in the mirror. My hair was sticking up all over the place as usual, so I tried in vain to flatten it.

Aunt Kiko and I look nothing alike. Her long brown hair always straightened to perfection, and sharp blue eyes that seemed to analyze and see everything. She was tall, and poise, always looking like she was ready to go to an important meeting of some sort. She wore black wire framed glasses and had pale skin, like me.

I on the other hand have short spiky green hair (dyed) that I could never get to stay straight like my Aunts. I had large dark brown eyes, with dark circles underneath; making me always look like I could use another few hours of sleep (I usually could). I usually walked with a slouch, except under the keen eye of my aunt. I was also lanky and short. Very, very short.

With the right amount of make up and the right kind of clothes, I could look cute. But then again, who couldn't? Like Aunt Kiko always tells me, there are no ugly girls on the world; just lazy ones.

I yawned loudly and looked at the clock. Two thirty in the morning. Oh that's fantastic, I have school tomorrow morning!

* * *

I felt like my head barley hit the pillow when my alarm went off again. Of course in my state of half-asleep I already hit the snooze button a few times. Groaning I flopped over, wishing for more sleep but forcing myself up, a little to fast because I was suddenly hit with bad head rush. Sitting on the edge of my bed, head throbbing, and rubbing sleep from my eyes, I looked over at the time.

7:14

The bright red letters seemed to etch themselves into my brain. I closed my eyes shut hard, trying to stop my head from spinning. Forcing my eyes open, I looked at the clock again (head still spinning).

7:15

But that is impossible; the train comes at 7:40. Aunt Kiko would have woken me up if she didn't see me downstairs… right? I closed my eyes and opened them again, straining my eyes to make sure I am seeing things right.

7:15

Oh Shit.

I jumped out of bed, and fell on the floor because I was still dizzy and tired. I managed to stub my toe like three times in my rush to put my uniform on.

Tachikawa Middle School's summer uniform for girls consisted of a red plaid kilt, a white blouse with the schools logo printed on the chest. Around the collar of the shirt there was a thin red ribbon tied in a lose bow. I wore my plain black dress shoes with it. The guys had navy dress pants, a white dress shirt similar to the girls blouse only they wore a red tie.

I didn't bother trying to fix my hair, I knew it was a lost cause, so I just grabbed my favorite white headband and stuck it in my hair before hurrying off.

I managed to get to the station on time because Aunt Kiko was able to drive me on her way to work. After thanking her for the ride and giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"… Are you ok Aunt Kiko? You are so stressed. You have a new case you are working on." The last part of what I said was not a question.

"Yeah, did you see the details about it?" She asked.

"No, I just learned that there is a new case and that you are stressing out about it. You should think about taking a holiday." I joked.

"I have no time for that right now, defiantly something we should think about later though. You are just as stressed as I am. Plus you have to feel other people's problems as well. If you don't feel up to going to school today, I would understand…"

"No that's ok! I want to go. I already missed way too much, plus Hikari would flay me if she found out I missed another day." I said laughing.

Aunt Kiko looked at me as if contemplating whether she should just force me to stay home. Before she could make that decision I said a final goodbye to her, and hurried to my train.

The train ride to Tachikawa was a good forty five minutes. I decided on this school, even though it was so far away, because I knew all the people from my elementary school would have gone to the attached middle school or some other one nearby. I wanted to get away from all them because I was a stupid kid who didn't realize that showing my "physic" powers (that's what I called them then) to all my little friends probably wasn't the best of ideas. Their parents didn't believe a word they said when they told them so they soon dropped it, but I didn't want them badgering me about it later on.

* * *

"Well here is a face I haven't seen in a while! What have you been up to?!" I heard a feminine voice say from behind.

"You know, work as usual… At this rate, no high school will accept me…" I said before grinning like mad and turning around to give my best friend in the whole wide world a big hug. Immediately I felt her calm, cheerful emotions wash over me. It was a great feeling, for the past few days the only people I have been contacting were stressed, over worked and tired. Either that or a murderer.

She had French toast for breakfast this morning…

"Awesome to have you back at school Honoka! School has been so dull without you!"

"You know you are lying. However it is awesome to be back!" I had to take the past week off school to work on the case.

Yuuko Hikari was my best, and only, friend. She was the only friend I really needed. We laughed at the same stuff, tell each other all our secrets (yes, I mean _all_) and we both loved mango flavored ice-cream topped with caramel sauce and pop rocks.

Hikari and I may be best friends, but we couldn't be more different. She is athletic, always nice and tanned, and had beautiful long blond hair (her parents are from Europe somewhere). She was funny, and kind. Guys loved her, and girls looked up to her. She was defiantly way up there on the social ladder. I was at the very bottom, which was fine with me. At first I thought that maybe my fame as the genius investigator would earn me a spot on that ladder, which it did for the first week or so. Then people saw that I clearly didn't belong and wasn't the person shown on TV. Disappointed, they stopped bothering to talk to me (I didn't really want to talk with them anyways).

Lot of people thought of our friendship as strange, but we have been besties since we were in diapers. She was probably the first one to know about my strange ability. She also gets all the inside scoop on the all the latest things happening within JNBCI. JNBCI stands for Japan National Bureau of Crime Investigations; it is the headquarters for all the big cases within Japan. We worked on either really serious cases that were too much for local Crime Investigation units to handle, or they were wide spread. The HQ is located in Tokyo. About a twenty minute walk from my school.

"Oh my god there is something you absolutely have to hear Honoka!"

"What?" I asked.

"There is a new transfer student!"

"So?" Transfer students are not all that uncommon. We get a few each year.

"Oh wow! If you were not my second favourite person in the whole wide world, I would have so thrown you off a cliff for that comment!!"

"What?! Second?! When was I demoted?!"

"When the transfer student came!" Hikari squealed.

"Is it a guy?"

Hikari nodded vigorously.

"Ahh. You will get over it in a week." I said, losing interest. The guy will fall for her; she will date him for a few days, get bored, and then dump him.

"No no no Honoka! This is different! You got to see him to understand. He is different from all those stupid guys in our school. This guy _radiates_ maturity and he good looking and mysterious and quiet to boot!"

"Quiet?"

"Yes! He doesn't say a word! Isn't that wonderful?!" She swooned.

"I guess." I didn't find being socially awkward the best trait in guys but I guess it would be best if he just shuts up, and lets her run with her fantasies.

"A few other girls also were interested, at first. He acts all cold and ignores pretty much everyone which scared away most of his admires. I think I might be the only one left…" She pondered this thought.

"That's fantastic dear, but if he is an asshole… why are you still interested?"

"He is not an asshole! I am sure his cold demeanor is just his way of covering up the fact that he is actually shy and not comfortable around new people! I will be sure to be there to help him make lots of friends!" Hikari patted her chest proudly, as if she was about to do the world a favor.

I laughed at her.

The warning bell rang, and Hikari and I headed for class –which we had together like always-. The way our school worked was, rather then students changing classrooms for each subject, the teachers would rotate instead.

On our way to class Hikari looked at me and asked "have you been eating right lately?" She asked, concerned.

"Yeah I have been eating fine, why?" I asked, lying. I rarely lied to Hikari, but I knew if she knew that I haven't really been eating much recently she would freak out and overreact. I simply didn't have the time at work to have big meals that's all…

"You know that you are a terrible liar right?"

"What do you mean? I am a great liar! Do you not see me on TV?" I asked, insulted.

"So you mean you admit to lying to me."

Oh shit. "uhh… Well you see Hikari, there is no need to freak, I just have been really busy lately… that's all…"

Hikari scowled, but luckily dropped the subject because we arrived at our classroom. We took our seats at the back of the class. My cell phone started to beep; a new text message. Because of my work, teachers knew not to take away my cell phone so I was free to take it out in class and read it. It was from my aunt.

_I am so sorry to bother you after  
we just finished the last case,  
but I really need you to come to  
HQ after school. It is urgent. _

No! It hasn't even been twelve hours since I finished my last case (a case regarding a series of ritual kidnappings and killings, really brutal) and now they need me back there already? Usually I got called on for a case once every few months (big weird and mysterious cases don't pop out every day you know) but now this? It's not fair!

Still exhausted from my lack of sleep the night before, I barely noticed Hikari's squeaks and continuous poking, indicating the new transfer student just walked in. I looked up just long enough to notice white hair, before laying my head down on my desk and falling asleep.

I was woken up by Hikari shaking my shoulder. I shot my head up, hurried to wipe the droll off the desk and my mouth.

I noticed someone standing in front of our desks. Startling green eyes glared down at me. It was the transfer student; there was no one else it could be. One, because there is no way I wouldn't have noticed someone like him in our school, never mind our class, before. Plus, remembering what Hikari told me about him, he fit the description perfectly. Cold, mature, and different.

He looked to be a bit taller then me (defiantly shorter then Hikari). He had white hair that stuck up all over the place, some of it falling over his eyes. His eyes were an intense green. He had naturally tan skin and what looked to be a permanent furrow between his eyes (from scowling).

"Are you going to make me stand here all day while you finish whipping the droll off yourself; or are you going to give me your assignment?" he said, his voice void of any sort of emotion, other then perhaps boredom.

I turned bright red, both from being embarrassed and from anger. What a jerk!

I scrambled into my book bag and pulled out the essay that was sent home with me last week. He took it, and without saying a word, proceeded onto the next person.

"Hikari! What the hell could you possibly see in a total ass like that?! And I thought you said he didn't say a word!"

"He is not a total ass! Anyone would be upset if they had to stand around all day waiting for some girl to finish her nap so they can finish what the teacher asked of them… He usually doesn't say a word, you just must have really pissed him off I guess." She mumbled.

I scoffed. "He is an asshole and you just wait and see. In a week or so, you will be agreeing with me; like always."

Hikari ignored me and opened her notebook to continue with the picture she was drawing. It looked suspiciously like her and a certain white haired grump surrounded by hearts.

The school day passed without much incident. Since I have been excused from P.E (because of heath problems) I used the free period to work on stuff I missed the past week. I didn't see anymore of the white haired kid anywhere. He seemed to have vanished after lunch. I soon forgot about the guy as I started to wonder what my aunt needed. I pray it's nothing to annoying. Maybe its just some weird paperwork or an interview or something (stay hopeful Honoka!).

When school ended I went straight to HQ. The JNBCI Headquarters was a huge building with at least fifty floors. The outside was silver frame with tinted widows that covered most of the building and the JNBCI logo was placed on the upper left hand corner.

I wasn't sure if I hated or loved this building. I loved it because since I started working there a year ago, I have made good friends with many of the employees. Also, it was sort of cool to be a part of all that, and knowing stuff that the public couldn't know about. I hated it because of the things I had to do there. Investigate into the dark pasts of places, people and things. I still have nightmares from the last case. Plus the stress…

I walked in through the front doors (revolving doors, still are my favourite part of this building) and asked the secretary where I could find Saki Yukiko. They told me she should be in her office so I headed there.

When I got to her office, I saw her name etched on a brass plate on the door. "Chief Investigator: Tokyo" Was etched in big letters above her name. I pushed the heavy oak door open. The office was huge, but it didn't seem so because it was so jammed packed. Aunt Kiko's massive desk stood was placed against the back wall of the room, and the huge bookshelves that were built against the wall on the left. To the right there were three big filing cabinets and coat rack. Her desk was covered in paper, which was actually rare because my aunt was very picky about organization.

"Oh good you are here Honoka! I am afraid there is another case you will have to look into. This one is of great urgency and we need your help." She picked up the paper she was reading and handed it to me.

"That is the number of people reported to have committed suicide in the past week. Look at the numbers." She said gravely.

Confused, I looked at the sheet.

Monday: 10  
Tuesday: 18  
Wednesday: 26  
Thursday: 33  
Friday: 46  
Saturday: 54  
Sunday: 63

"That's for Tokyo alone."

"That's…" I tried to quickly do the math in my head.

"250" Aunt Kiko answered.

"That's insane, but I don't understand what this has to do with us…"

"There are too many deaths for us to brush it aside. We suspect foul play, probably some sort of cult activity. However we have not been able to get any leads at all and the number of deaths keep increasing each day. We have been paying the press a lot of money to keep quiet about all this. If this is somehow leaked out to the public, our problems would increase threefold". She said sternly.

"I won't tell anyone about this, of course." Except Hikari, and I trust her with my life, she wouldn't tell anyone. Course, to keep my aunt happy, I won't tell her that.

"Of course you won't, after all, it would affect you the most I believe." She said with a slight grin that turned out to be more of a grimace.

She was right. With a resigned sigh I asked,

"So where do you want me to begin?"

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**So what did you guys think? Interesting? Boring? Silly? Undecided? Please let me know! **

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	2. The White Haired Midget

**Thanks so much everyone who reviewed! **

**I don't have to much else to say other then HERE IS CHAPTER TWO!**

**Chapter Two: The White Haired Midget**

"Wow Honoka, if I didn't have you as a friend, life would be so boring!" Hikari exclaimed after we finished discussing my latest case up on the school roof. The roof was the safest place to talk about things like that, because technically no one was allowed up here, but the teachers and principal let it slide for me.

"Ha-ha, if you didn't have me as your friend you would be having lunch with the rest of the class instead of hanging out up here in lonerville with me."

"Oh lay off it! You know I love you." Hikari said, dragging out the 'you'.

"Second to none?" I teased.

"Second to one." She said with a wink.

"Oh god. Don't start." I rolled my eyes; I would never understand this girl.

"Ok, so yesterday I made an awesome discovery!" She started.

"Oh really?" I asked, humoring her.

"Yes! While following Toushiro-kun home yesterday –"

"Stalker!'

"I over heard him talking on his cell phone!"

"So?"

"So that means he does have friends from his old school and stuff that he talks too!"

"No it doesn't, it means his mom called and wanted him to pick something up on the way home from school."

"Trust me it wasn't his mom."

"How do you know?"

"Well for one he called her Mastsumomo, or something like that."

"Oh ok, then maybe it's his girlfriend from his old school." I pointed out, suppressing a grin. I loved bugging her like that.

… Silence followed that comment. Hikari obviously never thought of that possibility.

"This Mastsumomo person must be vanquished…"

"Ok, while you do that I am going to be starting on my new case. Do you think it would be ironic if I suddenly threw myself off one of the nearby buildings during this case?" I joked.

"That's not funny Honoka!" Hikari wailed, punching me in the arm.

"Ow."

"Ow to you too. Now eat something damn it!"

"That was a fast change in topic."

"Damn right it was! Now eat your carrots!" She said trying to force one down my throat.

"I don't like carrots"

"I don't care. Eat them." Hikari demanded.

I started nibbling on one to shut her up. Luckily for me at that time she announced she had to leave a bit early today.

"Where are you going?"

"Toushiro-kun has been leaving at lunch everyday recently. If he is going again today I must find out where he is going! He might be meeting with that Matsumoto person!"

I coughed something that sounded something like "stalker".

"Yes and you would know all about stalkers right?" She asked sarcastically.

"Yes I would, it_ is_ my job to be one." I laughed.

"So, how do you know what's a normal suicide case and what's one of these suspicious ones?

"Most of the time, nearly all of the time, a suicidal person will leave signs of their intentions in advance. But in these cases there were none of those signs."

"I see. Well, good luck with that! What are you doing first?"

"Investigating some houses."

"Cool."

"Not really."

"I will leave now. I need to go follow my heart."

"Ok Hikari. Just don't get hit by a car again." She stalked guys like this before, and a few guys ago she tried to rush across the road so she wouldn't lose the guy. She ended up getting hit by a car, sort of, more like the car slammed on its breaks and the bumper bumped against her side, causing her to fall over.

"I won't." She shouted over her shoulder as she ran away.

***

I hated my job.

I arrived at the fourth house. As my aunt suggested, I started with investigating the first ten people who died on the first day. I was trying to look for any connections between the ten.

The first house was fruitless. It was clear when I looked that the person actually was planning their suicide for months already. The victim was a 48 year old woman who lost two kids and husband in a plane crash months before. She hid her suicidal thoughts from everyone, and didn't even bother writing a note. I guess she didn't think there was a point seeing as there was no one to receive it. She lost everyone she loved in the plane crash.

While that was sad and all, it proved that this suicide was not linked to the others. The next few houses were defiantly strange.

First weird thing, the victims did not have any suicidal thoughts at all until just moments before they killed themselves. Each one of them had a reason to be upset, like financial problems or a death in the family or something, but none of them appeared to being thinking of going to that extreme…

I found all this out, just from entering the room and sitting on the persons couch or something. That was my ability. I had the ability to know things that happened by touching the object in question. For example, if I touched a baseball bat that was used for a murder, I would be able to know it was the murder weapon. However my power was limited to things that happened just to that one object (I can't just touch the door handle of a murder scene and know everything that has happened, I would just know who used the doorknob and when). This is why it took a good half hour per house. I needed to go around and pretty much touch everything to find out what has been going on the past few weeks. It was very time consuming.

Another thing about my ability was it's not like in the movies where all of a sudden I see a scene flash before my eyes like a movie. I don't actually _see_ anything. I just know it, like the information was implanted into my brain.

I spent about a half hour in the fourth victim's apartment. He was a 26 year old male who's "motive" was that he was up to his eyeballs in student loans. But not once did he show any signs of wanting to end his life; yeah sure when the bills came in he looked miserable, but who doesn't?

The report said he ended up hanging himself.

One of the clear signs that this was one of the special incidences I was looking for, rather then another case like the first house was that the man returned home from doing the weeks grocery shopping an hour or so before he killed himself. Who would go grocery shopping if they were planning to end their life in an hour? The lady who lived in the first house didn't buy any sort of provisions for a good week before she died.

That man also looked like he was preparing to make a cake for his girlfriend's birthday which was in a few days.

In my early days of working for JNBCI, these sorts of things completely terrified me, and they still did in a way. These people had all these things they were planning on doing, but then all of a sudden they died. Like, you truly don't know what day is going to be your last…

Just then the door opened. A woman walked in; she looked to be in her twenties, I would guess. She was about 5'9" and had long black hair that reached past her elbows. She had huge bags under her eyes and a slouch in her walk. The moment she walked into the room her eyes filled with tears.

"I am sorry you cannot be here. This place is still under investigation. I am…"

"I know who you are." The woman interrupted. "I was hoping to speak to the person investigating this case. I am happy to see it's you… with a reputation like yours… I hope you can find out who killed Yuuto…"

"I am sorry but who are you?"

"I am his girlfriend. Mao Ai"

Ahh, his girlfriend. I might be able to learn a thing or two from her.

"Nice to meet you Mao-chan." I said sweetly, holding out my hand to shake hers.

The moment our skin connected, I realized she had nothing to tell me I didn't already know. She had been dating Saburo Yuuto for three years after meeting him at a friend's party. He worked a lot, as I already knew, to pay off his loans. He never showed any signs that he was planning on ending his life.

This lady however, it felt like she might need some therapy to get over this. I don't want to have her house be the next one I'm investigating.

I also had some power when it came to living people as well, although it was much more limited then with non-living objects. When I touched a person I could feel emotions and even get a glimpse into the persons past. That sounded all dandy and all but the stuff I saw was very random, and I usually get random, useless, bits of information like what they had for breakfast. However, if the person I was in contact with was thinking hard about something, I am much more likely to see that. Plus I can only see things a person remembers. So if a person couldn't remember what someone looked like, I couldn't get that piece of information out of them. Also, if they thought they remembered something that's how I would see it. So let's say someone remembered a car to be black when it was actually silver. I would see the car as black as well.

The whole reading emotions thing was just plain annoying.

The thing was though, the judges wont take "this little psychic girl saw this man in her visions!" as evidence. So that means we had to still do investigations to find evidence against the perpetrator. At least when we knew for sure who it was, it's easy to focus on just investigating that one person so evidence is usually found rather quickly.

It's all rather confusing; especially for me.

She talked for a good fifteen minutes about Yuuto. What kind of guy he was and stuff. She was trying to do whatever she could to prove to me that he was not the kind of person who would commit suicide.

"There is absolutely no way Yuuto would kill himself. No way! Especially with my birthday so near… we promised to spend it together…" And with that she burst into tears.

After I calmed her down and gave her my word I would do whatever I could to find out the truth behind what happened, I sent her on her way.

I went to the window, and hesitantly put my hand on the glass. I took my hand away again. It was the same as the last two houses…

There was a second thing that all the rooms, save the first, had in common.

It seemed that a familiar white haired brat has been visiting all the locations just a few hours or so before me, and as strange as it sounds, he always came through the window, no matter what floor the place was on. He also wore a traditional style black outfit and carried a sword with him.

This was defiantly worth looking into. This is must be where he was going after lunch today. I wondered if Hikari was successful in stalking him. I sure hoped so.

I saw the sun setting outside. I decided I should head home if I wanted to get any of my homework done.

* * *

I took the bus from the train station to a bus stop a ten minute walk away from my house.

My home is a yellow farmhouse-styled house with two floors, three bedrooms and three washrooms. There were beautiful gardens surrounding the house. My aunt claims she did the amazing garden on her own, but I knew she hired a gardener to make it and maintain it for her.

When I got inside my aunt was waiting for me in the kitchen. There was a small plate with piece of bread and a slice of ham beside it. She slid the plate towards me when I sat down at the table.

"Here, you must be hungry."

I wasn't, but I started nibbling on the bread anyways. She looked at me with searching eyes. She wanted to know what I found out.

"There wasn't much. The first person on the list is a normal suicide case, but the others are strange." I told ever everything I saw, excluding the part where I saw Hitsugaya Toushiro investigating the houses as well. That was something I wanted to look into myself before sharing with my aunt.

"Are you going to the rest of the houses tomorrow?" She asked.

"Maybe. There is something I want to check into first, before worrying about the rest of the houses." I explained.

She took the hint. I did that sometimes on cases, looked into something on my own before consulting her. She didn't complain about it anymore.

"You look pale, Honoka. Have you been eating ok?"

Why does everyone have to ask me that!?

"Yes."

"What did you have for lunch today?"

"An apple and some carrots." Well, actually a slice of apple and one baby carrot.

She stayed silent and watched me until I finished most of the bread and half the slice of ham.

"Is that good?" I asked, desperate to be free of this table.

She grumbled, but let me run upstairs to get started on my homework.

Reaching the top of the stairs, I started feeling fatigued from the effort. I felt dizzy too. I ate too much today.

All of a sudden a wave of nausea hit me and I rushed to the washroom.

After I was finished throwing my guts out, I returned to my room, exhausted. Feeling dizzy and at the verge of collapsing I crawled in bed, without even bothering to change into pyjamas, and immediately fell asleep.

* * *

"Why do you care what I learned when following Toushiro yesterday?"

"Because… uh… I think he might be connected with the case I am working on right now." I whispered as we were in the middle of the hallway.

"No way! Why would you think that?"

"I can't say here!"

"Then let's go!" She dragged me by the arm towards the roof.

"We are going to miss first period!" I freaked.

"Yeah so? You are absent so often I don't think it matters anymore."

"What about you?"

"Pah, math was never my thing anyways." She said, still dragging me.

When we got to the roof, I made sure to lock the door before I explained how I saw him investigating the rooms before I arrived.

"So you are saying you saw him in going into these rooms right after he left school?"

"Yes."

"And that he was dressed in some black traditional outfit and had a sword with him."

"…Yes" I said, starting to feel stupid.

"But that is impossible."

"That's what I saw!" I exclaimed.

"He did his grocery shopping and then went to a movie. Then after the movie he went home."

"What? That doesn't make sense…. I have never been wrong with one of my visions I don't believe…"

"Maybe you saw someone else." Hikari said, even though she knew it couldn't be true.

"Oh really? I wasn't aware that there was a sudden increase in the white haired midget population recently…" I started laughing at my own joke.

I was surprised when Hikari didn't join me. I looked at her and saw her, white faced, looking at something over my shoulder…. Oh no…

I slowly turned around, and of course, there stood the murderous form of Hitsugaya.

"Oh! Hi Hitsugaya –san!" I said; my voice unnaturally squeaky. "I was just talking about... Uh… my cousin! Who is visiting from Canada! Ha-ha… you know how those Canadians are…"

He didn't buy it; he still looked like he was going to punch my nose in. Instead, he said in a perfectly controlled voice…

"Shouldn't you be getting to class? It would be such a pity for you to fall further into the realm of stupidity."

I was going to shout some snappy retort when Hikari put her hand over my mouth. No amount of struggling or hand-licking would get her to let go.

"Oh you are so right, Hitsugaya-kun! She just _insisted_ that she had to tell me about her cousin straight away! I shall get her back to class immediately." She dragged me away, again.

It wasn't until we were at the bottom the stairs that she let go of my mouth.

"Are you crazy Hikari!" I gasped.

"No are you crazy! You keep this up and you are totally going to ruin my chances with him!"

I ignored her. Not wanting to go for the last half hour off math, we decided to hide in the girl's bathroom until the end of first period.

"How did he get on the roof?" I asked suddenly.

"What?"

"I locked the door! I know I did!"

"Well maybe you didn't lock it right." Hikari pointed out.

"No, I heard the lock click."

"Oh ok, in that case he must have materialized through the door. Because he is some sort of ghost man who can do that right?" Hikari said, sarcastically.

"Yes yes Hikari you are so clever. So… what are you doing tonight?"

"Following Toushiro again, I want to find out what kinds of foods he likes. You know… in case I wanted to make him lunch or something one time…." She trailed off.

"Would you mind if I joined you?"

. . . . . . . . . .

**Well there you have it. **

**I hope I didn't confuse everyone with the bit explaining Honoka's … special gift. I was thinking whether I should say it all in one go, like I did, or to explain it bit by bit over the next few chapters. I decided all at once because I know I would end up forgetting to mention parts of it or repeating myself. **

**I hope you guys had a few laughs during this chapter :P I sure did – because I am a loser who laughs at her own jokes-**

**Please review!!! **

_**This chapters QUESTIONS:**_

**Do you think Honoka is too Mary Sue? **

**French toast or Pancakes? **


	3. Questions Without Answers

_**This chapter would have been up yesterday but I ran out of time on my internet stick. Since I am only in croatia for another 5 days I wasn't planning on buying more, but I couldn't wait that long to give you awesome ppls this chapter! So in other words I spent 50 dollars on a new internet card for you guys! Feel special!**_

_**(aka I expect reviews from you ppl who read but don't review ;P ;P ;P)**_

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**Sorry for taking longer with this update! Thank you for all those who reviewed on my story so far :D It makes me so happy to see a review for this story rather then my twilight one (can you guys beat the twilight fandom? Hmmm ;P) (Hitsugaya fans are a thousand times cooler then Edward fans BTW ;P) **

**Well, seeing as ranting on up here about nothing is wasting all of your valuable time; let's get on with chapter three! I hope you all enjoy! :D**

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** Chapter Three: Questions Without Answers**

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"Hikari this is seriously getting ridiculous." I whispered to my insane best friend who was kneeling next to me, spitting leaves out of her mouth.

We were currently "in pursuit" of Hitsugaya. Meaning we were hiding out in some bush with a pair of binoculars (stalkulars) and watching him take some shortcut to his house which was on the other side of this big park –where we were hiding-.

The few people who saw us were giving us really weird looks, and I was doing whatever possible to make clear I didn't want to be there. Childish I know, but it was embarrassing!

"It is necessary Honoka." Hikari whispered as she gestured for me to pass her the stalkulars.

"No it's seriously not. Do you do this everyday?"

"Well not everyday, some days he goes to the shopping center. There are no bushes there."

"Oh god." I got up to leave.

"Where are you going?! You are going to give us away!"

"He already knows we are here you loser!"

"What?! How do you know?!"

"I just know! His body posture, he keeps glancing over his shoulder, and the fact that he is taking this opportunity to escape down another path!"

"… What?!" Hikari spun around and indeed, he bolted around a corner and disappeared.

"Well I need to stop at another house before I catch my train, so I really need to be going now."

"I will come with you; I don't have anything else to do now." Hikari sulked.

"You really need to stop this stalking business" I pointed out. She laughed.

We quickly stopped at the house of another suicide victim. I went inside and checked the window.

Yep, there he was again. I saw him coming in about an hour or so ago, but I know he didn't go anywhere near this building all evening.

Frustrated, I stormed out of the house to where Hikari was waiting for me.

"So…"

"He was there again."

"But he couldn't have…"

"I know he couldn't have! I don't know what this is all about but it's seriously starting to get creepy. Does he have a twin or something that no one knows about?"

"That still doesn't explain why he is dressed the way he is. Or why he is going into those houses in the first place." Hikari pointed out.

"It's all just too confusing."

"Maybe you should confront him about it…" Hikari pondered.

"Yeah and have him impale me with his crazy sword thing? I don't think so."

"Well if you do it in a place where he can't suddenly kill you without people noticing. After all, those sorts of things usually stand out a bit."

"I love how we are talking calmly about my hypothetical murder."

"Also I am pretty sure the sudden death of Saki Honoka couldn't be covered up. No matter how you look at it, killing you wouldn't be in his best interests."

"I guess…Still, I don't know how to go up to someone and ask _'why have you been breaking into suicide victims houses dressed as something out of an anime and carrying katanas with you_?'"

"Oh that is the easy part, you just say '_why have you been breaking into suicide victims houses dressed as something out of an anime and carrying katanas with you?'_"

"Ha-ha you are so clever Hikari." I said sarcastically.

We arrived at the train station. I said goodbye to Hikari and boarded the train. The only empty seat was next to a busty red-head talking loudly on her phone.

"But Captain!!! I don't understand why _I_ need to look into this… you are so much more capable then I am! And smarter too! I bet you would get this done in not time at all…No I am serious! I am not joking at all!" The red head whined.

I heard yelling on the other side of the phone. What a strange woman indeed. I didn't want to have to hear her whining for the entire trip home so I started to pull out my mp3 when I heard her say something really strange.

"So I guess I will leave my gigai at the mall, it has a pretty good taste in handbags… so where is the house again? … Oh no that will be quite the run… I guess I could shunpo…, who in their right mind lives so far from the city? Craziness I say…"

I put my earphones in but didn't turn on the mp3. I wanted to listen to the rest of this strange conversation.

"Ho ho Captain! You didn't tell me I was investigating a girl in your class?! Did someone finally strike your fancy? I am so curious to see who it is…!" The red head laughed and squealed. More yelling ensued from the other end of the phone.

"So what's her name?! Tell me tell me!" There was more yelling before I suppose the person must have answered her question.

"Oh! I heard that name mentioned on TV today!"

I sat, frozen, probably looking a bit too freaked out for someone who was supposed to be listening to music. The redhead didn't notice however and continued rant on to whoever it was she was talking too about how she would rather go shopping until the other person hung up on her.

All of a sudden I felt a new found sympathy for the guys Hikari stalked. I will have to get her to stop that secret hobby of hers immediately.

"Some people are just so rude!" Exclaimed the red head, it took me a moment to realize she was talking to me.

"Oh… I guess." I mumbled, pulling the earphones out of my ears.

"What is that you got there?" She asked, picking up one of the headphones and dangling it between her slender fingers.

"Uh… An Mp3 player…"

"That sounds fun, never heard of one myself, what do these Mp3 players do?" She asked curiously.

For a second I looked at her to see if she was kidding. She wasn't. Maybe I was taking all this to seriously, it really seems like this lady should be in a psycho ward. Not knowing what mp3s are? Has she been living under a rock?

"Uh… It plays music through the headphones that you are holding."

"Oh! Lemme try!" She squealed in delight when I showed her how it worked.

"Oh wow that would make paperwork a million times easier! I should give one of these to the Captain for his birthday!"

"…Yeah…" I didn't know what else to say.

"Oh I am Matsumoto Rangiku by the way!"

I was saved from having to say my own name when the train arrived at the station and everyone hurried to get off. I didn't waste any time at all getting myself lost in the chaos.

"I will talk to you later, mp3-chan!" I heard the red head, Matsumoto, call out after me.

I bolted off the train and started to run as fast as I could towards the parking lot where my aunt was waiting for me with the car.

"What's the matter?" She asked as I jumped into the passenger seat. "You shouldn't be running like that…"

"Oh it's nothing important…" It took me a minute to catch my breath.

Matsumoto… Where have I heard that name before…?

My aunt already had soup ready on the stove when I got home. She put some in a small bowl for me and gave me a bun to eat with it.

If it was really me the weird Matsumoto person on the train was talking about… she should be here in about fifteen minutes or so… depending on how fast she was going…

"Honoka, please tell me what's bothering you! You have been all jumpy since you got here." Aunt Kiko worried.

"Oh it's just me being paranoid. I head someone talking on the train about following someone home. And from the way the person was talking it made me think they might have been talking about me. But they would have recognized me if they were fans or something… I have no need to worry."

Aunt Kiko still looked concerned. "What makes you think they were talking about you?"

"Well because she was talking about heading in this direction and when the person she was talking to on the phone told her the name of the person she had to "look into" she mentioned that she heard that name on T.V. But please don't worry too much I am sure I am just imagining things…"

"You are not imagining anything! Who else could she have been talking about?! This could be serious Honoka, did the person give any clue to whom she could have been talking to…?"

"Uh… she called this person "Captain" and the voice on the phone sounded male…"

"If you are done with your dinner you should go upstairs to get your homework done… don't worry too much about this…" Even though she said that, it was clear she was worrying more then I was. I headed upstairs anyways.

Ten minutes later I heard police sirens. Great, my aunt called the cops. I went downstairs to see what was going on. A police officer told me that they were going to be staying outside the house all night to make sure nothing happened. They also asked me for more description about what the person looked like. I told them everything I could and they told me to continue on like normal; which is not easy with a bunch of cops stationed in your vegetable garden.

I got ready for bed early that night. I made sure the windows in my room were closed before I fell asleep.

*******

The first thing I noticed when I woke up that morning was that the window by my bed was wide open. Freaked out, I hastened to slam it shut again. I started that morning with checking every square inch of my room for the red head. When I found no one I convinced myself it must have been the wind.

I was happy to see that the cops were gone by the time I left for school. I guess since they didn't find anyone they just labelled it a false alarm and left. Good, I didn't want them escorting me to school or something embarrassing like that.

When I got to school I found Hikari talking with a big group of kids from the other class. I awkwardly waited off to the side until they left. They asked her to come along but she refused. She skipped over to me.

"You could have come and talk with everyone too you know. I am sure if you weren't so afraid to talk to everyone you would get along with the class better."

"Well if you told them about your after school hobby they wouldn't ever talk to you again you know." I retorted.

"Well yeah, that's why you are my best friend and not them!"

I snorted.

Hikari laughed and continued. "Oh, remember how I was trying to figure out who that Matsumoto person was?"

"What?!' I asked, shocked to hear her say that name.

"Don't you remember?! The girl Hitsugaya-kun is always calling and screaming at!" Hikari exclaimed.

My head spun as I soaked in that piece of information. Was it the same person? No way… There are probably like a thousand 'Matsumotos' in Tokyo… Unlikely it's the same person.

"Well anyways, I figured out it's a relative of his who is temporarily living with him. Thank god for that too! You should see her! Two of my heads could probably fit inside each one of her boobs!" Hikari said rather loudly, earning her a few odd glances from people nearby.

Yes and I was sure that there are more then just one with overly large… assets.

"Um… So what does she look like?" I asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.

"Uhh… She is tall with long wavy orange hair…extremely beautiful… and curvy… _very curvy. _

Well that settled it I guess. There is no denying that the person Hitsugaya frequently calls and lives with was the same person that I was sitting beside on the train. Not many people match that description. Chances are the person she was talking to on the phone was Hitsugaya as well.

"Ok that's it, do you know where I can find Hitsugaya?! I need to talk to him right now!" I was officially pissed off. Who the hell did he think he was? Suddenly transferring here and causing all these problems.

"Uh…. He usually hangs out on the roof around this time… but if you go now you will be late for class."

"I don't care; I will see you in second period."

"Wait Honoka…!" Yelled Hikari, but I was already sprinting to the roof.

When I finally reached the door to the roof, I took a moment to catch my breath.

"What did I tell you about talking about your missions in public Matsumoto?! See what happened?! I hope you are planning on fixing this. She probably gave the police your description; damn! You don't deserve to be called a vice-captain after this you idiot!!!" A very familiar voice drifted through the door.

"You have until tonight to take care of the cops, do you understand?!" Hitsugaya snapped.

Silence followed, so I assume he hung up the phone. Determined to get to the bottom of this, I heaved the door open.

Leaning against railing was Hitsugaya, messing with his cell phone. If he didn't look happy when I saw him he was down right livid when he saw me. He snapped his phone shut and started to head towards the door.

"I don't think so." I spat, barricading the door.

"What do you want?" He spat back.

"I want to know who the hell you are, what you are doing here, and what the hell you want with me." I said as calmly as I could, but even I could hear my frustration and anger seeping through my words.

"You are talking nonsense. I am a transfer student who is here because of family issues if you must know. So if you don't mind I would like to get to class now."

"Oh really? That's new, last time I checked you had no problem skipping classes to sneak around crime scenes without permission. Don't try to bullshit with me, I know you were there." I growled.

He gave a very frustrated sigh, rubbing his temples he said "You are giving me a bad headache you know. How about for both of our best interests, you stop trying to bud into other peoples business."

I laughed humorlessly. "_I_ am giving _you _a headache?! You have got to be _kidding_ me! Plus, it is you who is budding into _my_ business. It is my job to be at those houses, _not yours_"

"I really don't have time to argue with children. So if you please, step aside." He said in such a way that made it sound like he was very used to giving orders.

"No. Not until you give me the answers I am looking for!"

He sighed again, and started to walk off towards the other side of the roof.

"Oi! Where the hell do you think you are going?!" I yelled, grabbing his arm.

The worse kind of shiver ran down my spine, and I found myself covered in a cold sweat. I let go of his arm as if he electrocuted me.

I still remember, very vividly, the first time I touched a dead body. It was during my third case with JNBCI. Trying to describe it properly would be impossible. It was like a dark chasm; a vast amount of nothingness.

Everything in the world was, in a sense, _alive._ Even if it couldn't think or breath, it still remembered, it still _knew_ things. It was the same with people or cupboard doors. Corpses are the only exception to this. It was probably how normal people felt things everyday, it was normal for them. But for me it was different, I never touched anything and felt _nothing_.

Touching Hitsugaya's arm was like touching the corpse all those months ago. Nothing.

Taking advantage of my shock, he snuck by me and left the roof. I was left there with no answers, only new questions. It was no longer _who_ is Hitsugaya Toushiro, but rather, _what_ is Hitsugaya Toushiro.

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**Wow! I am so happy to be done chapter three! There was like a million things that I wanted to happen in this chapter but I could only pick a few! And since I kept changing my mind this took a bit longer then I expected it to. Sorry guys!**

**Thanks for all the reviews! 11 is pretty awesome for only two chapters :D You guys make me so happy!**

**I hope you enjoy the story so far! I was actually thinking of changing the name of the story to something a bit more… I donno… meaningful. "ALIVE" was chosen as the name of this fanfiction because after an hour of brainstorming of possible titles I gave up and just named it after the song I was listening to at the time. (but in a way it does relate to the story…)**

**Also according to you guys pancakes own French toast. Yippie!**

**ANYWAYS ENOUGH WITH MY BANTER! Time to start chapter four! I sincerely hoped you all liked chapter three enough to leave me some nice reviews :) and if not, leave me a review anyways! ;P**

**QUESTIONS OF THE CHAPTERRRR!!**

**1. Would you guys rather I use "Taicho" instead of "Captain"?  
2. Chips or Cookies? **


	4. Apparitions

**This is the second time in a row I have to apologize for slow updating. But this time it was seriously not my fault! Last week, I was like half way done the chapter when my computer crashed and had to restore itself. For those who don't know, when a computer "restores" itself, it goes back to the setting of when it was last working properly or something like that. Meaning that everything I saved in the past few hours was erased. INCLUDING this chapter. **

**The only thing harder then writing a good chapter is writing it over again. Trust me.**

**OMG! This is the LONGEST chapter i have EVER wrote! just to let you all know :D  
**

**Well now that I finally rewrote it to my satisfaction… I present to you chapter 4! **

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_**Oh and here is a shout out for all those in mourning because of Furareta's cancellation. I swear to god I cried when I read that authors note. **_

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**Chapter 4: Apparitions**

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I spent the rest of Friday and Saturday locked up in my room. Part of the reason why was because I was so freaked out. The other part was I was wracking my brain trying to figure out just what happened on the roof Friday morning.

There were some things I knew for a fact.

One, Hitsugaya Toushiro didn't transfer here for academic reasons. He was for sure connected in some way to the suicide cases I am working on.

Two, He was defiantly working with the Matsumoto woman I met on the train. And for some reason he wanted her to do research on me. The research includes spying. Hitsugaya seems to be her boss.

Three, for some reason my power don't work against him.

There were about ten times more things that I didn't have a clue about. Like _why _my powers don't work on him or why he had been exploring the homes of the victims. It was all giving me a massive headache.

I already debated with myself whether or not to just take his advice and just mind my own business. But I soon discovered that would be impossible. Being nosy is simply in my nature.

Speaking of the case, the fast growing number of suicide victims has slowed down in the past few days. It hasn't come close to stopping yet, but it has slowed down.

Sunday mornings were usually my sleep-in mornings so when my aunt woke me up at five in the morning I was more then a little surprised.

"Honoka you have to get up. Come on, it's an emergency." Aunt Kiko said shaking my shoulder.

"What?" I asked; feeling tired and disoriented.

"I just got a call from Hiroko. We are needed somewhere, now."

Hiroko was one of the best investigators at JNBCI. If he was the one who called it must be important.

I groaned audibly but dragged myself out of bed. I was still half asleep when I threw some clothes on, brushed my teeth, and left the house.

My aunt sped to the train station. We took the train and two buses to get to our destination. We managed to get there in a half hour.

We walked up to an old apartment building next to a large city center. This place was usually bustling with activity but now it was next to abandoned, because of the time. The eerie silence gave me a strange sense of foreboding.

We took an elevator to the top floor. Outside the door of room 704 was group of police officers. Two of the officers were trying to calm a young woman who was crying, while the rest tried their best to keep back a mob of curious tenants. Blood curdling screams were coming from the room.

The police officers let us in as soon as they saw us. We walked inside a small living room, with two couches and a coffee table placed in front of a small television. There was a glass sliding door on the far end of the room that lead to an old balcony. The door was open so there was a cool breeze softly caressing my face.

It seemed like a peaceful sort of place. However the atmosphere was sort of destroyed by the large amount of cops all over the place.

The source of the screams was an overweight middle aged man that was being pinned to the floor by two cops. He was screaming like he was being tortured, his eyes were rolled back into his head and foam was coming from his mouth. He was thrashing violently in his attempts to free himself from the police officers grasps. He managed to clip one on the chin with his elbow but a third cop soon arrived to help keep him down. I felt numb with horror.

It took every ounce of will power to continue acting professional rather then bolting back out the door.

My aunt took little time watching the screaming man. She was in business mode right away. She told me to follow her and we started looking for Hiroshi. We found him talking to some frightened old lady in a nightgown, a witness perhaps, in a quieter part of the house.

Hiroko Kujoh was a top notch investigator at JNBCI with ten years of experience on the field. He joined JNBCI two years ago. Before working at JNBCI he worked at some small private investigations unit up north, but my aunt managed to pester him into joining JNBCI. He has been one of the most valuable members of the team ever since. He has a thing for my aunt, but I am the only one who knows that.

When he saw us approach he sent the lady away, telling her she aught to get some sleep. She passed by us as she left, her eyes completely focused on me. I was happy to see he turn the corner and leave.

"So would you mind telling me what the hell is going on?" Aunt Kiko snapped, impatiently. The man's screams could still be heard from where we stood.

"Well, the man's name is Daiki Isamu. The police got a strange call from his daughter at a quarter to five this morning saying she thinks her father was possessed by something."

"Well if he was acting this way at the time I can see why she would think that." I murmured.

"The police asked, of course, why she thought that." Hiroko continued. "She said she arrived home from her night shift at work and she found her father trying to throw himself off the balcony, and when she tried to stop him he went berserk. She was forced to drag him inside the house, all the while her father was kicking and screaming and trying whatever to get her to let go of him. She was able to lock him inside the washroom for long enough for the police to arrive."

"And I am guessing that is not exactly in his nature?"

"Not at all, according to everyone I talked to he is usually a really peaceful nice guy. And it doesn't seem like he recognizes his daughter at all."

"And you think this has something to do with the case that Honoka and I and working on?"

"Yes, after all you are working on a case involving strange suicide occurrences, correct? This might be one of them. So I made sure to call you two right away."

In order to reduce the chances of news of the suicide cases reaching media ears, only the top dogs at JNBCI knew the details.

"Yes, thanks for calling us. Honoka?" She asked turning towards me. "Could you please go and introduce yourself to Daiki-san?"

This was a codeword for "go and search his mind" but seeing as that it is bit weird to put it that way, we stick to our code word even if we are alone.

I returned to the living room where the cops were still holding down Daiki Isamu. It seems that the ambulance must have not arrived yet.

"Excuse me, would you mind if I had a word with him?" I asked one of the officers, sweetly flashing my best fake smile.

"Uh…You could try, he hasn't exactly been responding to anyone, all he does is scream…" The police office tried explaining.

"Thank you very much officer. You and everyone else has done a great job thus far, thank you very much for your contributions!"

"We are just doing our job, Saki-chan." The police office said, embarrassed.

I walked up to the man, who was still being restrained by a rather large police officer, and tried saying hello. When he didn't respond with anything but more screaming I lightly touched his arm.

I felt a cold wall of despair hit me like an oncoming train. I felt every inch of happiness in me drain away and all that was left was sadness and despair. Just one name kept echoing in my brain. Miho… Miho… The name of his eldest daughter that committed suicide a few days earlier.

I pulled away, trying to hold back tears. What was that right there? It was like every happy memory of his was whipped out and all that was left was sadness. Most prominent was the memory of his eldest daughter's death.

I rushed to where my aunt was still standing with Hiroko.

"Hiroko, why didn't you tell us he had a daughter that committed suicide a few days ago?!"

"Oh sorry I was just telling your aunt that now. Was she also one of the strange suicide cases?"

"I don't know… Aunt Kiko could you..?"

"Yes I am on it." She said, for she already had her Blackberry out where the names were saved.

"There is no "Daiki Miho" listed but there was a "Watanabe Miho". Was she married to someone with that surname?"

Hiroko left to go ask the younger daughter (I haven't learned her name yet). In the meantime I gave my aunt an overview of what happened when I looked into the man's mind.

"That is really strange, if both his daughter and he are examples of the strange suicides we have been investigation, this would be a major discovery. We will have him looked into, and see how long these symptoms last. It might also prove to be contagious, but I am sure we would have seen other connections if that were the case." My aunt pondered this.

We went to the living room to go look for Hiroko. It appeared the ambulance has finally arrived. They were getting him ready to be strapped to a gurney.

He was struggling harder then ever to free himself from the police officers and paramedics who were trying to get him on the gurney without hurting him. He has long since screamed himself hoarse. All of a sudden he looked out the glass door towards the balcony in a transfixed sort of way.

I followed his stare and let out a horrified scream and fell to the ground.

Floating outside the window was a woman. She was dressed in a ripped, bloodstained white dress. Her long back hair stuck to her face in clumps in such a way that it reminded me of the girl from the Ring. She looked up at us and brushed the hair from her face revealing a pale scarred face, and bloodshot black eyes. She had chain wrapped around her neck that lead to some place in the sky.

I was distracted by a loud bellow and some shouting. I saw the man, who obviously escaped the police officer, run for the balcony. His hands reached out as if he was desperately trying to reach the bloodstained woman. The woman was holding out her hand, inviting him forward.

The man was falling before the police could reach him. I heard a bone-chilling thud which signified the man had reached the bottom.

I closed my eyes and covered my ears with my hands, trying to block out the horror of everything that had just happened. I felt tears pouring down my face and I heard myself sobbing. My entire body was shaking uncontrollably. I curled myself up in a tiny ball as if that would protect me from whatever it was that killed that man.

I heard the people in the room shouting and hurrying around. Amid all the noise, I heard the voice of my aunt and Hiroko calling my name. I heard my aunt trying to calm me down and Hiroko trying to get everyone to give me some space. Everything felt hazy, like some horrible dream.

Still sobbing and shaking, I uncurled myself off the floor and looked out where the woman was floating. There was nothing.

I could sort of hear my aunt asking me to calm down. I looked around at everyone else in the room. None of them seemed too worried about the fact that there was some floating zombie girl hovering outside the apartment. Was I the only one who saw it?

I felt my aunt leading me out of the apartment, still trying to talk to me. I was slowly starting to calm down, but my legs still felt numb.

When we exited the apartment building I noticed the unmistakable figure of Hitsugaya. Some strength returned to my legs. I told (more like ordered) my aunt to go without me. Shocked by my tone, she did as I said. Once I saw her car leave, I marched over to where he was standing. He was facing away from me and was talking on his cell phone, of course. He hung up right before I stormed up and grabbed him by his collar.

"Ok, I don't have time for your games right now." I hissed. "I just saw the fucking grudge floating outside that apartment window and I know you have something to do with it, or at least know a thing or two about it. So you are going to start explaining or so help me _god_." I was shocked by the venom in my voice.

He simply stared at me, his eyes searching mine and looking completely calm.

Angered by his attitude, and everything else about him, I backed up and tried to punch him in the face. He simply caught my wrist. His grip was strong and I couldn't get him to let go.

"Let go of me." I shouted, struggling to free my arm.

"So you can try to hit me again?" He let go of my arm none the less.

After rubbing my sore wrist I grabbed his shoulder as hard as I could to make sure he didn't escape again.

"Now tell me…What the hell is going on here!" Frustrated and tired, I could no longer hold back the tears that were threatening to spill since he grabbed my wrist. Sobbing frustrated tears I sunk to my knees.

He put a hand to his forehead and started muttering something that sounded like "of all the things I did not have to deal with right now…" and gave me a moment to pull myself together before he said.

"Things are starting to get out of hand, if you do not want to find yourself hurt, you must just keep your nose out of this. I understand that you are upset, but forget about what you saw here and go home and do what normal girls your age do. Shopping or something." He stared me right in the eye; he was pretty much begging me just to drop it.

I burst into tears again, but these were angry tears rather then frustrated ones. "Do you _actually_ believe I can just "go home and forget" what I saw here?! I will be lucky to be able to sleep a week from now!"

"You would be lucky to sleep two weeks from now if you knew the truth." He stated.

"I still want to know. I have to know. I am already involved in this somehow, I can see that much. I could see that thing, and others could not. I want to know why I was the only one who could see that, and why I see the things I do when I touch things and why I can't see them when I touch you! I just don't understand… it's not fair…" I started sobbing frustrated tears again. I tried my best to stop myself; I never cry in front of other people. What the hell is happening to me?!

I pushed him back again and curled up my fist to try to hit him again. This time he let it land. I backed up and hit him again.

After a few moments of silence he lifted his hand, causing me to flinch back, to rub his cheek. "Does that make you feel better? Will that help answer your countless questions?"

I simply glared at him. I had nothing to say to that.

"In that case you are not suited to know the answers. And if you must know, I do have the answers for a few of them, but they are for people with more guts then you I am afraid."

All of a sudden a wave of nausea ran over me. A wall of dizziness hit me so hard that I fell to my knees. I started to throw up stomach acid, since I haven't eaten anything that day, and then the black splotches consumed my vision and I passed out.

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I woke up what felt like days later on a couch in a place I did not recognize. I bolted upright, and regretted that decision right away because I felt the throbbing pain of head rush hit me. It took a few seconds to be rid of that before I could properly take in my surroundings.

I was in a small living room on a small black couch. The room was rather empty; all it held was this couch, a love seat, a coffee table and some almost empty shelves. There were some books and an old, rather unused looking, television set also in the room. It smelt… fresh… like Fabreze.

I stared to freak out. Where the hell am I?

"You really do have a talent for being a huge pain in the ass." An irritated voice from behind me said.

I turned around and standing there with a steaming cup of something, was Hitsugaya.

"You passed out outside the apartment earlier, and since I didn't know where else to take you I took you to my place. Here, have this, you are probably dehydrated." He said, passing the steaming mug to me.

I took it, and I could tell by the smell it was tea. I hope he didn't poison it because I was too thirsty to care at the moment. I scalded my tongue but I still took a huge gulp.

"Be careful it's hot." He explained a bit too late.

We sat in silence as I finished my tea.

Surprisingly, Hitsugaya was the one to break the silence.

"So I guess you were wrong about the whole "not being able to sleep in a week" thing."

"Ha-ha you are so funny. How long was I out?" I snapped, remembering I was mad at him.

"About two hours." He said calmly as ever, not caring to take notice that I was mad at him again.

I was to angry to even thank him for helping me, after all he could have just left me lying there in front of the building. After all, I was not his responsibility. Maybe he should have. I don't want to be in his debt.

"It was my fault that man died earlier. I screwed up and wasn't there in time. I apologize." He said, rather sternly seeing as he was supposed to be apologizing. "And I understand that you saw something rather terrible this morning. You were not supposed to, but you did. There is nothing I can do about that. There are some people who are simply born being able to see ghosts and the like. They go through life without issues, for the most part, and you should too."

"So was that what that woman was? A ghost?" I asked, happy to finally be getting something out of him.

"Something like that."

"And there are other people like there, like me?" I asked, excited.

"There are other people out there with high enough spiritual energy to see spirits. Sometimes this energy gives a human certain abilities, yours would be different from someone else's."

"Is that the same with you?"

"Sort of."

"You say human like you are not one."

"You are imagining things."

"You are lying."

"Think whatever you like."

I realized that this cat fight we were starting wasn't going to get us anywhere.

"So… people like me… with high spirit energy or whatever… can see things like that floating woman… and she has caused all the deaths recently?" I will no longer call them suicide cases, because if this woman was behind it all, then it was no longer suicide. It was murder.

"Not all of them."

"So there are others like her?"

"Yes."

"And are you supposed to get rid of them or something?"

"Yes." I could tell he was starting to get annoyed with my onslaught of questions, but I wasn't about to quit until I milked all that I could out of him.

"Can I help you?" I asked even though I knew his answer.

"No of course not. You ask a lot of stupid questions."

"Well maybe because I have to. No matter what, I will continue investigating these deaths, and the woman I saw this morning. Nothing you can say or do can stop me. I know that, in movies, this is the point where you inform me that you are going to erase my memories or something. Is that right?!" I demanded feeling childish.

"You watch too many movies. But yes, it is that part."

"Well guess what, even if you did that would not stop me. You can go ahead and erase my memories, but you would also have to erase everyone who works at JNBCIs' memories as well. And even if you did that it would not stop my aunt from re-noticing the suicide trends and re-ordering me to investigate it. It would simply be one big circle and it would come down to the same thing; especially since I can see these floating murderers now." I said, feeling very in control of the situation.

"You are playing a very dangerous game right now. It could cost you your life if you don't stop trying to get involved in things that you really don't need to be a part off."

"I was not aware that you find hundreds and hundreds of deaths as a 'game' Hitsugaya." I growled.

We stood, staring at each other, in silence for a little while. He eventually growled in frustration, and stood up to leave.

"You may leave when you feel like it; I need some time to think about some things." And with that he started to leave.

"Anemia." I spat.

"What?" He asked, for once being the confused one.

"I am anemic. That's why I fainted earlier. When I am under to much stress it starts to act up." I growled, unhappy to be spilling my secret. It was also why I hadno appetite and I got dizzy and nauseous often. It also causes my body to reject food.

He looked at me thoughtfully for a second; he looked like he was going to say something but decided not to. He left the room.

I laid there to think about what he told me for a few moments. It was all too much to take in at once. Spirits killing people? Why? For revenge on the living or something?

I called my aunt to see if she was still in town to pick me up. I was glad to find out that she went to HQ instead of heading home. I had to go outside to see the address before telling her where to pick me up.

I chose not to tell my aunt about collapsing earlier. I just told her I went to a friend's house to calm myself down a bit.

On the drive home, my aunt said "Honoka, I don't think you should be working on this case any more."

"What?" I asked, making sure I heard correctly.

"You should pull out of this case, I have been overworking you recently and I can tell. You are as pale as a ghost, and you haven't been eating right lately. I am so sorry, I have been so selfish. I know you are sick but I still make you do all this. But enough is enough; you deserve a good long break. Do you remember that vacation we were talking about the other day? How bout it?"

"Uh…" As nice as a good vacation sounds, there really wasn't time for that right now. "Auntie… I really can't pull out right now… There are so many people dying, and I could be the one who can stop it, how can you expect me just to go take a vacation now?"

Aunt Kiko chuckled humorlessly "You take too much from me, do you know that? I very often forget that you are not my real daughter."

I just smiled, a bit embarrassed.

"Just be careful, you have to watch your health a bit better. I have been careful about keeping media away from you lately, to reduce stress. Is there anything else I could do for you?" She asked, very concerned.

"Buy me more ice-cream; that would be wonderful." I joked.

We both laughed, and stopped to get some ice-cream on the way home.

That night, my dreams were filled with woman covered in blood being cut in two by a white haired kid with a sword. It was the first time I felt cold in a dream.

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**Holy shit how time does fly by when you are writing. It 4:14 in the fricken morning where I am right now! THAT'S INSANE.**

**Well I hope you all loved chapter 4! I worked my ass off writing this one :D and because of the ridiculous time I really hope I didn't make to many grammar/spelling mistakes that I didn't catch. I am to impatient to wait for my friends to proof read this chapter :D so I am gonna trust my half sleeping judgment and say this is good enough!**

**Oh and as I was saying earlier… WHO ELSE WANTED TO DIE WHEN THEY READ THAT FURARETA WAS BEING CANCELED!!!! **

**I promise you all that if I get that far into this story I WILL NOT quit on you guys! The feeling of having a favorite story of yours suddenly stopping after like two and a half years is HEARTBREAKING! Unless I die or something that is. **

**I was gonna say something else but I am too sleepy to think of it right now. **

**RIGHT **

**LAST CHAPTERS QUESTIONS!**

**1. It was pretty much a tie between calling him "Taicho" or "Captain". So I shall choose :D and I think I will be calling it "Captain" because I feel that I want to use as little Japanese as possible within my story. I find having random Japanese words ruins the flow of the story. I only use Japanese when I can't translate it properly. Like suffixes (chan, san, kun… ect) and bleach terminology (shinigami, gigai, shunpo,ect) **

**2. AND THE WINNER IS…. COOKIES!!! I half agree, because I would defiantly say cookies but salt and vinegar chips are like my life food. My three basic food groups are chicken, potatoes, and salt and vinegar chips. **

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_**QUESTIONS OF THE CHAPTER!!!**_

**1. How do you like how I am portraying Hitsu-chan so far? OOC? **

**2. I was trying to make the scene with the ghost woman scary. Did i succeed at all?  
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**3. How many of you ACTUALLY read my authors notes. HAHA**

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**Well I am off to have some well needed sleep. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and I will start up on chapter 5 real soon. Hopefully it wont erase on me this time :D **

**REVIEW! Or suffer the consequences. Bwahahahah **


	5. Clouds With Black Lining

**THERE ARE NO WORDS That would describe what a failure I am. **

**OK! READ HERE! I have gotten a few emails saying that this fanfiction is dark and evil. WHICH IT IS! Sorta, after this chapter there is going to be humour and happiness for a while–my fave- before the EVILNESS comes back. :D **

**OH! And thanks for the MARVELOUS reviews! Already 32 for just 4 chapters! THAT IS INSANE!!!**

**And for those concerned about my updating habits, there will be more on that at the END of the chapter! SO PLEASE ENJOY!**

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**Chapter 5: Clouds with Black Lining **

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Months have passed since I last spoke with Hitsugaya. The Monday after I talked with him about the killings, he vanished from school. At first I thought he was just skipping like always, but then I stopped hearing his name during attendance, and someone else took his seat in the classes we had together.

I tried to ask Hikari where she thinks he might have gone, but she insisted she never heard of anybody by the name of "Hitsugaya Toushiro" either in our school or out. She told me I should have my head checked.

I still remember going to the roof and having a tantrum after realizing she wasn't kidding.

Afterwards I thought that maybe it was all part of his plan to get me off his back, erase everyone's memory of him then erase my own. Each night before I went to sleep, I wondered if I would remember the strange x-transfer student when I woke up in the morning. However I still remembered the conversation I had with him as clearly as I had the day it happened.

Soon after Hitsugaya's disappearance, my aunt called me to her office saying that the suicide case was closed. They blamed it on some cult that I doubt actually exists. The suicide rate returned to normal as well.

I continued to investigate on my own for a while, thinking that maybe one of those ghosts would turn up. I found absolutely nothing.

Scared and frustrated, I continued on with my life. On account that I haven't worked on another public case in half a year, I haven't been bothered by the media at all recently. It was the closest I have felt to "normal" in nearly two years.

Well, almost normal. Hikari has changed over the last few months. She spends more time some new group of friends instead of me, and each day she was looking and acting more like them. It was starting to get on my nerves. Most lunches were now spent alone on the roof, leaving my mind to think about useless things.

I was walking to the park to play on the swings when I got the call. It was from Hikari's mother. Apparently Hikari hasn't returned from soccer practice that morning, and hasn't called. I assured her that I would help look for her, even though I didn't know where I would find her anymore.

I wondered back in the direction of the school, not in much of a rush. Hikari has been disappearing a lot recently, it was worrisome at first, but after like… seven times… you sort of get immune to it.

When I arrived at the schools parking lot, I saw Hikari's bike chained to the bike rack, but there was no other bikes around it so I assumed she must be alone. What would she be doing at school at six in the evening on a Saturday?

I went inside, it was unlocked for some reason, and looked in all the places I thought I might be able to find her. She wasn't anywhere. I eventually reached the roof, the door was open. Good thing too, because I lost the key to the roof a few days ago.

Hikari was there, standing by the protective fence that surrounds the roof. It took me a second to realize she was standing on the wrong side of the fence. Her back was faced towards me and she was clinging on to the fence, looking down at the deserted street bellow. I ran towards her, swearing to myself I would kill her for doing being so stupid. Doesn't she know that what she was doing is dangerous?

I was near the fence and her name was on the tip of my tongue when I saw her let go of the fence. I thought I was having another dizzy spell when I saw her lean forwards. Moving faster then I ever moved in my entire life, I shoved my arms through the holes in the fence and grabbed her around the waist.

She wrestled to get me off, screeching at me to let go. She looked at me, with bloodshot eyes and a pale complexion that made her look like she hasn't slept in weeks. She tried to elbow me, but the fence was in the way. Normally she could easily overpower me, but there was nothing that would make me let go of her now.

She started screaming, swearing, and begging to be let go. I felt terrified tears run down my face. I wasn't sure how long I would be able to keep this up; no one was around to help and I knew what would happen if I let go. I remembered the man a few months ago, who threw himself off his balcony.

Panicking, I looked around. Sure enough, climbing up the school wall like a spider was the ghost. This one looked to be a strangely familiar looking middle aged man. I nearly had a heart attack when I realized he was the screaming man from the apartment building a few months ago.

Screaming in terror, I held Hikari closer then ever. Suddenly she managed to throw her legs over the side, leaving me to hold on to her entire weight. I felt incredible pain in my upper arm and I knew it would break soon. She dropped a bit and I was holding her by her armpits. Squiggling around she managed to slip some more until I was holding her by her wrists.

At this point I was screaming for help; the police, my aunt, Hitsugaya, God, _anyone. _

The searing pain in my arm tripled when I felt my upper right arm break. I screamed in pain and tried to hold on with my other hand. I felt her clawing my hand, trying to get me to let go. Eventually I felt her slip through my fingers.

Screaming in both pain and horror, I pulled my arms out of the fence. Still crying, I stumbled forwards and used my good hand to hold onto the fence. I closed my eyes, not sure of what to do. It was then I realized I didn't hear the sound of Hikari hitting the ground.

"Why is it that whenever there is trouble, you are _always _there?" Grumbled a voice I have dreamed about for the past month.

Trembling, I turned around. Standing there, with an unconscious Hikari slung over his shoulder, was Hitsugaya. I took a few moments to make sure I wasn't just seeing things, and then I ran over to see if Hikari was alright. I started crying from happiness when I saw she was breathing.

"I also took care of the Desperi; your friend should be fine once she wakes up, which may take a while."A much forgotten Hitsugaya said from beside me. I noticed that he was wearing that strange black and white uniform from my visions.

I was about to kneel down and offer my life as thanks for saving Hikari but I suddenly remember the vast amount of pain I was in because of my right arm. I looked over at my arm and saw it bent in a way that it really shouldn't. The pain seemed to double when I actually saw it. I started sobbing again.

Hitsugaya seemed to notice my arm because he came over to examine it.

"Defiantly broken, even if I knew how to heal broken bones I wouldn't be able to, it's against the law to perform healing kido on a human. You will need to go to the hospital."

I was to busy trying to stop myself from screaming to respond properly.

"You cry a lot." He complained after a few seconds.

I really didn't want to argue with him right now so I just agreed. He stood there for a few moments as if he was unsure of what to do next. I heard him pull out his cell phone.

I stayed completely still, because any movement at all would cause me to nearly lose my conscious. I continued to sob and wondered how the hell I managed to pull my arm out of the fence and run over her in this state.

I heard someone else on the roof. I heard a girl's voice and then I saw a familiar red head, only this time she didn't seem quite so cheery. She arrived with a splint and she hurried to put the arm in a splint, and she put some ice on it as well. This reduced the pain. My arm felt all numb and tingly. She talked about how a broken arm won't kill you and how it usually looks a lot worse then it was. I didn't have the energy to respond. I don't take pain very well.

"Since it would be a pain to explain to the people at the hospital why she is in this condition, I will take her to my place to stay until she wakes up. Also, if anyone asks, you fell off a bike funny."

"Aww, can't you think of something a little more epic then that?" I almost laughed.

"For you, I think a bike is epic enough."

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After a string of painful stumbles and cursing on all of our parts I found myself at a hospital. At one point Hitsugaya disappeared to change and take Hikari to his place, which was a good thing because I was in no rush to walk around with him in public while he was wearing that.

They were both kind enough to wait around until I got my long arm cast on, which took a while after the x-rays and calling up my aunt and all. I left the hospital with Hitsugaya and Matsumoto because Aunt Kiko had to rush back to the office.

We were saved from the awkward silences because Matsumoto kept on blabbing about how she wanted to make some cover for my cast to make it look nicer. I told her that there is no way to make this humongous cast look any better but she was persistent.

"Oh! And I call being the first one to sign it!" Matsumoto skipped along happily in front of us. I wondered where we were headed to. They took me to an apartment building near the outskirts of Tokyo.

"This is where I am staying this time." Explained Hitsugaya.

"Oh… ok." I was defiantly worried. What if he brought me here to alter my memories? Well, if he wanted to do that wouldn't he have done it last time? What changed since then? Only this time the victim is my best friend and I know a bit more then I did back then. Oh goodness I am going paranoid.

I really wished I could _see_ myself. That way I wouldn't have to worry about him erasing my memories. I would be able to relive my lost memories through the objects I had with me at those moments. Unfortunately though, I have never been able to see myself when seeing an objects memory.

We walked into an average sized apartment with almost the same layout as the last house. The living room had a black leather couch, and a run down television, and a few books lying around. Other then that it was empty.

"You just move in?" I asked.

"Yeah, I just came back this morning and you already are causing problems." Hitsugaya grumbled.

"Oh don't mind him. Captain is just grumpy because all the watermelons were sold out at the supermarket this morning."

"I am not grumpy." He said grumpily.

Matsumoto and I picked fun about the watermelons until he threatened to kick us out.

"So why did you guys disappear for so long? Being super hero's somewhere else?" I asked light-heartedly, hoping it would seem like I didn't really care.

"Well technically I was never gone." Matsumoto explained. "I was here the entire time but you never saw me. Tokyo is a big city after all! Captain had to go back though…" I noticed Hitsugaya hushing her.

Being an Investigator gave me a few tips about information gathering. Most of it I forgot the moment my aunt told me about them, but I did know how to pinpoint the person most likely to spill. Matsumoto practically had "Big Mouth" plastered to her forehead in big neon lights.

Also, I could tell that shouting and demanding answers from Matsumoto would probably just hurt her feelings. Not in my best interests at all. At this time, I want her to love me like a sister. People tend to blab to people they like rather then people they don't –obviously-.

"Hitsugaya, you called the demon ghost thing something weird earlier on. Is that what they are called?"

"Yeah, apparently we had a few encounters with their species in the past, but never anything near to this proportion; maybe one or two a century or something." He said brushing his hand through his hair.

I sat on the armrest of the couch. I could feel my eyes were still puffy from crying. I remembered I still had to thank Hitsugaya properly for saving Hikari. I was waiting for a good opportunity to say it because I felt a bit awkward just suddenly bringing it up. I don't know why, maybe I have finally lost my mind.

Hitsugaya ordered Matsumoto to go make tea, and not to come back until it was done.

"So why did you leave?" I asked, not knowing what else to say.

"Because of you, you started snooping and I had to disappear so you wouldn't meddle in our affairs. It was the only thing that saved you from getting a shinigami execution squad from knocking on your door."

"Sorry for being a hassle."

"Don't say things you don't mean." He said making the closest thing to a smile I think he could pull off.

"You are right, of course." I laughed. "Thank you, by the way." I muttered, embarrassed.

"For what?" He asked as if he didn't know what I was talking about. The idiot.

"For rescuing Hikari of course you idiot!"

"Is that how you usual thank people? No wonder you don't have any friends." He said mockingly.

"Oh and you are just Mr. Popular aren't you? Yeah, I hear that stupid looking hair cuts and white hair is all the rage now-a-days!" I retorted.

He looked pretty pissed off, but didn't say anything and just glared off into the distance, ignoring me. He must call this taking the "high road", I call it surrendering.

"So you say you left because you didn't want me finding anything more about whatever organization you are a part of?"

"That is what I said."

"Well if that's the case why did you come back?"

"I was ordered too."

"By who?"

"None of your business."

"Why?"

"Because."

"That's not an appropriate answer."

"Fine, because you might be able to be more useful then we thought."

"Hu?! Really? Awesome!!"

"No that is not awesome for you. If you do turn out to be useful for my mission your life is going to become a million times harder."

"Do you mean I could get killed like Hikari almost got killed?"

"Possibly." He said nonchalantly.

"…Sweet."

"You think possibly dying is "sweet"?"

"I laugh at the face of death."

"But scream and cry at a broken arm?"

"Shut up. Midget."

I heard the nerves in his head snap.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING "MIDGET"?!!??! YOU ARE A MILLION TIMES SMALLER THEN ME YOU… INSIGNIFICANT PINT SIZE CRY BABY!" He roared at me.

I simply laughed. "I think you might be exaggerating a little bit right there. Shrimp."

"I swear to god if it were not my mission to use your powers for my benefit, I would feed you to the pidgins in the park."

"Yeah sure you would. I am so terrified. I shall bend to your will for now on for fear of death." I said sarcastically.

"Well I am tired of answering your questions all the time. I have work to do. Get lost."

"Captain! That is so rude! Especially since you had me go make tea!" Matsumoto returned to the room with three cups.

"I meant make tea for me. I have lots of paperwork to do."

"You are always doing paperwork. How can you think of _paperwork_ when you have such a pretty girl in your apartment?" Scolded Matsumoto.

He ignored her, and just to piss me off, looked around the room as if looking for this "pretty girl".

Annoyed, I stood up. "Thank you, very much, for your help today both of you. I actually came here today to watch over Hikari, so I must get to that. Would one of you mind showing me which room she is staying in, please?"

"Yeah no problem." Matsumoto volunteered.

She took me to a small spare bedroom at the back of the house. There, sleeping on an old pullout bed was Hikari.

"We are not sure how long she will stay unconscious, it varies with each person. We will get her a proper bed if she looks like she will be out for a while."

"Excuse me? What do you mean? Hitsugaya said she will be fine."

"Well, so far we have saved quite a few people from the Desperi. Some have woken up after a week or so, others have taken months. There are a few people in coma like states and still haven't woken up. Don't let that worry you though, out of all the cases there have only been like two or three like that. The odds are in your favour. I am sure your friend will be up and about, stalking people and having fan girl fits in no time." Matsumoto said reassuringly.

When I didn't respond she left awkwardly. I walked over to the couch and sat next to Hikari. I poked her arm with my good hand, like I usually did when we were having a sleepover and I woke up first. She didn't stir or make any noises at all. She just kept on sleeping.

Deciding it was pointless to sit here and poke at her, and I was never one to emotionally spill out my feelings to a comatose loved one, I went to a nearby vent and put my ear to it. I smiled with success when I heard two voices drifting through the air vents.

"So Captain, wouldn't it just be smarter to wipe her memories and watch her from afar? It would be safer for all of us that way."

"Wouldn't it be smarter to wait until she is out of the apartment before we talk about this Matsumoto? You should do something about that brain mouth filter of yours, get it fixed, to be precise." He complained.

"You are too paranoid you know, she doesn't have time to eavesdrop on us! She is busy watching over her friend. Who was attacked and got thrown off a building, in case you forgot."

"And in case you forgot; no matter how inept she may be, she is still an investigator for Japans top crime investigation office. Chances are she is using this opportunity to eavesdrop our conversation."

Whatever was said next was missed because of the loud sound of thunder rolling outside. I looked out the window and realized it was pouring rain. Not wanting to walk home in that I quickly checked the time. It was just shortly after six, which means my aunt should be leaving the office soon. I quickly dialled her number, and when she picked up her office phone I nearly did a victory dance.

* * *

When I got home I felt exhausted. I plopped down on my bed. I had no idea how I would fall asleep with that annoying cast on my arm. I hated having to sleep on my back but sleeping on my sides or front was just as awkward. After much tossing and turning I found a semi comfortable possession. Just as I started to nod off to sleep, I felt a chill go down my spine, followed by an intense feeling that I wasn't alone. Trying to convince myself I was still shaken up because of this afternoon, I hid under my blankets (ultimate protection) and fell asleep.

**. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . **

**Woah, Im finally finished. **

**I had a really hard time writing that chapter BECAUSE I FRICKEN HATED IT! Im sorry for failing with this chapter –in my opinion it sucked majorly- I hope to do better in the next.**

**And as I said at the beginning of the chapter, I will tell you a bit about my updating habits in an attempt to explain why I suddenly jumped off the face of the earth for like a month.**

**You see, I have these spells where I can just write and write chapter after chapter and love it all! And I will update like every other day or something during those times. But then I will hit a chapter that for some reason just makes the wheels in my head stop, like this chapter, where no matter how hard I try I cant get ANYTHING to sound right and I end up writing a paragraph and then deleting it over …. And over… and over…**

**SO THERE YOU GO! Sorry guys for taking forever T.T**

**So last chapter I asked about what you guys thought about how I am portraying Hitsu-chan. I got more then one person saying that he seems robotic. I was so happy when I heard that :) Because I have been purposefully doing that at first, because in my opinion, Hitsugaya is not the kind of guy who would give a rats ass about some random human girl who doesn't even have significant spiritual energy. Therefore he would sorta be robotic "yeah ok" " no get out of my face" -.- -.- -.- a general "leave me alone human" sort of attitude. But I plan to change that now that he knows she is not just some random useless human girl.**

**Sorry that this authors note is so long -,- I just felt like I had a lot to say….**

**ANYWAYS.**

**QUESTIONS OF THE CHAPTER!!!**

**Are you all ready for the light hearted –humor part of this story?! Or are you guys enjoying the death and horror that filled the past few chapters…?**

**Hnn Pick a number between one and five. Depending on the number the most people pick that will be Hikari's fate……. (I have a possible outcome for each number :D)**

**What would be worse? Suddenly having someone fling oatmeal in your face? OR falling face first in a patch of mud…? **


	6. Shopaholic X2

**Hey hey everyone! I tried to be a bit quicker with this update but I mildly failed SORRY**

**But I think I'm getting better :P all of your reviews are GREAT inspiration! Plus it reminds me that I should be writing, not playing freecell…**

**Anyways! I am trying to learn to keep my author notes short because of my annoying tendency to ramble…. :)**

**SO please enjoy this light hearted not-horrifying chapter :) AND REVIEW!**

**. . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . **

**Chapter 6: Shopaholic X2**

**. . . .. . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

The next day at school was a long and weird day. Between dodging questions regarding Hikari's disappearance and getting over the fact that in the eyes of everyone at my school, Hitsugaya was the new kid at school… again.

"I don't know how you can handle coming here everyday." Muttered an annoyed Hitsugaya. He walked along side me to the roof where Hikari and I always ate lunch. It felt strange eating with someone that is not Hikari. I can't wait until she wakes up. In order to make Hikari's parents not have a freak out when their daughter mysteriously vanished, Hitsugaya modified their memory. They believe that Hikari is on a month exchange program in America.

"You don't have to stay with me you know." I snapped. He was doing nothing but complaining since school started. I guess since he had to protect me or something from the scary monster things, he was being forced to stick around.

"Actually, yes I do. If we are going to be working together on this case we will have to get along on some level." He grumbled.

"Well, you making it seem like it's the biggest pain in the ass ever is not going to make that happen any faster!"

"Well this _is _the biggest pain in the ass ever. This place makes me miss Karakura town."

"Where?"

"This annoying place where annoying things happen because of annoying people." He explained.

"I see." He was obviously not planning on telling me about his missions and such outside of this one, so what's the point in prodding for answers I wasn't going to get?

Awkward silence followed us for most of the lunch period. Well, awkward for me at least. Hitsugaya didn't seem to mind the silence.

I suddenly blushed when I realized this was the first time I have ate lunch with a boy. I quickly tried to get rid of the redness before he realized. He hardly counts as a "boy"… after all he might not even be human; probably some strange breed of dwarf.

"So what are you doing after school?" He asked suddenly.

"Uhh... Uhh…" I stammered.

"Well cancel it, because we have somewhere we need to be." He snapped his phone shut.

"What?"

"Matsumoto just messaged me saying to meet her on the 3:20 train going east. She said it's important."

"Oh…" I started to laugh.

I just stared at me like I lost my mind.

"What's so funny?" he finally asked.

"Oh nothing… nothing at all…"

* * *

Hitsugaya and I boarded the train on time. Matsumoto sat in one of the back seats.

"Captain! Saki-chan!" She called gleefully. "I saved you guys' seats!"

Anyone but Matsumoto probably would get killed for trying to save a seat on such a busy train. We pushed through the crowd and managed to get to Matsumoto and the empty seats without being trampled.

"What is it, Matsumoto?" Hitsugaya whispered seriously.

"You will have to see it to believe it." Matsumoto replied forebodingly.

The rest of the ride was rather tense. I nearly started laughing halfway through.

When we reached our destination, we got off the train at Harajuku station and headed through an underground passage way the took us straight to Omotesando Hills, a huge shopping center.

She dragged us both at top speed to a huge sign outside one of the shop windows.

"CAN YOU BELIEVE IT CAPTIANN!!!!!!! ADORE IS HAVING A BUY ONE GET ONE TWENTY PRECENT OFF SALE!! THEY NEVER HAVE SALES!!!" She started spinning in circles and clapping happily, entirely not caring if everyone were looking at us like we were crazy.

Hitsugaya looked too shocked to do anything. I think he blew a fuse.

"Saki-chan! Isn't this great?!" Matsumoto shrieked.

She was right, ADORE never had sales… but I really don't need any new clothes…

I really don't.

But look how soft that dress looks…

Wow… I always loved the color red… Oh look how sparkly those shoes are… oh my god…

Just a little peak won't hurt… I can try things on… and not … buy them…

While I was in my little trance Matsumoto already dragged me into the store, leaving a stunned Hitsugaya to pull himself together outside.

Inside was packed, of course. My "Try but not Buy" strategy died the moment I got my hands on a beautiful silky scarf and matching hair piece, after that it was "well one more thing cant hurt… times twenty". Both of us got carried away, of course, and ended up buying like two thousand dollars worth of things we didn't need. My cast was rather annoying when I was attempting to try some things on, but I managed. Two hours or so later we left the store, with me nearly toppling over with the weight of my bags. Matsumoto had to help me with some of mine because of my arm.

It was then I realized something.

"Wait a second, why are we not dead?" I asked looking around.

"Oh right… hehe… where did he go? I completely forgot I dragged him along…"

"Why _did_ you drag him along?" I asked laughing.

"Well for multiple reasons. First, I didn't know your cell phone-you have to give it to me by the way- and I wanted to go shopping with you –oh and you are a simply fabulous shopper! We must do it again some time!- and so… I made him bring you here under the pretense there was a case or something. Secondly… I liked to mess with him, did you see his face?!" She laughed loudly as we entered the train station.

"You know that he is going to kill you right?"

"Oh he would never! I am sure I have done worse then this…" She trails off.

"What is it?"

"Can I stay at your place tonight?"

* * *

"Hello Miss Saki-chan's aunt! It's very nice to meet you! My name is Matsumoto Rangiku!" Chirped and overly excited Matsumoto to my not-so excited aunt. None the less Aunt Kiko welcomed her inside politely, giving me a "you didn't" look upon seeing the bags in my hand.

"So… how exactly did you two become friends…" asked my aunt, probably wondering about the age gap.

"Oh… Well, Matsumoto-san is the older sister of a classmate. I was at his house working on a project today and well… Matsumoto-san and I found a common interest!" I said smiling, gesturing towards our bags.

"…Evidently." Sighed Aunt Kiko.

"And I asked if I could stay over because my younger brother would murder me if he saw these bags…" Matsumoto started pleading.

"Well just be sure not to make to much noise. Some people have work early in the morning. Plus you need to be at school tomorrow Honoka…"

"Yes yes, I promise we won't be up late!" I begged.

"Then it's fine." She said simply. She then returned to her office to continue with her work stuff. I was happy I was not a full time employee at JNBCI.

"I am happy we went to the mall today." I said. "I haven't really gone since my shopping buddy stopped hanging out with me." I was referring to Hikari of course.

"Well, you have me now! We can do this everyday if you want!" She suggested excitedly. I had to remind her to keep her voice down.

"Well, not everyday. I don't think my ridiculous salary would cover that." I laughed. I really was… loaded I guess you can say. I get paid ridiculous amounts for my work, plus the bonuses I get when I finish a case. Plus there has been talk about getting someone to write me a biography. I found that completely stupid but my aunt seemed to like the idea. Of course it would be jammed packed with bullshit, but I guess that could be fun.

"Well… every week then." She said, slightly disappointed.

"So, why is it you can't stay at your house? You don't live in the apartment with Histugaya-san do you?"

"Nope! Hitsugaya insisted we had different places during this mission because he feels my presence is "distracting". But he also knows where I live, so he is probably waiting to ambush me when I get home… With his Bankai and loads of paperwork…" She shivered.

I didn't bother asking what a "Bankai" was, probably some weird ghost fighting term. Maybe she was referring to his sword thing.

"Ok! Lets take all this stuff upstairs!" I exclaimed. " You have got to see my closet! It's almost as big as my entire room, it's so exciting…" I rambled on about all the stuff in my closet until we reached my bedroom door.

"I really should keep it more organized though, I sometimes find stuff in there I didn't even know I…" I opened the door and nearly pissed my pants.

Sitting on my couch, was a _very_ pissed off Hitsugaya. He was dressed up in his costume and had his sword lying beside him. Oh shit, is he really planning on attacking Matsumoto with that thing?!

I started to get scared. In the mean time Matsumoto seemed to be tied between running away or pretend everything was O.K and see what happened. She seemed to have gone with the latter.

"Oh what are you doing here Captain! What a pleasant surprise! Saki-chan was about to show me her closet! There are apparently some really amazing things in there…. You should come check it out with us!" She chirped happily.

"Matsumoto…." He seemed to be radiating death and despair from every pore on his body.

"Or even better! I can go back to my house, and do my paperwork! Does that sound like a good idea Captain!" She said sweetly.

"A fantastic … Idea… Go now." He ordered. Matsumoto left right away.

"Aww Hitsugaya-san you are such a party pooper. I was just getting excited about our sleepover and you have to come and ruin it. What the hell are you doing in my house anyways!" I complained.

"…Why do I have to work with such useless people?"

"I am not useless!"

"Yes, you are." He said matter-of-factly.

"Well, I guess I am not going to give you the thing I bought you then!" I huffed.

"… What?"

"I said, I guess I am not going to give you the thing I bought you then." I repeated as if he didn't hear me.

"I am not interested in dresses." He said pointedly.

"It's not a dress! For heavens sake!" I dug through my bags; this took a few minutes, and found a tiny bag within the bigger bag.

"Here! See? They were selling them at the counter… and since you use a cell phone all the time I thought…"

He pulled out the little snowman cell phone strap.

"I thought it looked a bit like you… Matsumoto said I would die if I gave it to you… but I thought you might find it funny as well… I guess maybe not?" I asked nervously.

"Oh yes, so funny." He said in a monotone.

Well it didn't look like he was to mad, so I added in "I better see it on you phone tomorrow at school!"

"Yeah… Not a chance." He said, as he started twirling it around his fingers. "This is so stupid; don't waste your money on crap like this."

"Well I am sorry then!" I snapped, feeling really hurt. I was surprised by how much his words stung. I didn't want him to see how much he upset me so I pretended to be just really mad –which I was, so it wasn't that hard- and started going through my shopping bags.

"…don't get all upset about it… Thanks for the stupid snowman thing…" He grumbled.

I felt a little bit better after that, but not by much.

"I have a question." I said a few moments afterwards. "You seem to know so much about me and my abilities, but I know nothing about yours. I know you seem to work for some sort of… group or something, who knows things about the events that have been happening recently. But I don't know what _are_ you… or where you come from… or why you need me and my seeing abilities…"

He seemed to be thinking for a moment what he should say.

"I can't really be of much help if you keep leaving me in the dark…"

"Ok then… You are so annoying… well, for your first question. Matsumoto and I are shinigami."

"What?" I remember him saying something about a shinigami hit squad or something earlier on, but I didn't think he meant it… literally.

"Shinigami have two main jobs, one is to purify spirits and send them to the soul society, and the second is to kill hollows, which are evil spirits that eat other spirits."

"Ok…" I said, indicating I was following along, which I wasn't.

"But every so often we get weird cases like this."

"So these things are not hollows?"

"No, hollows are distinctive because they wear masks and have a hole through their chest."

"So… you are dead?"

"Well depends on how you define "dead". Have I passed on from the human realm into the afterlife, yes. But I am still considered alive in the soul society, because that's where human souls are reborn. Get it?" He asked impatiently.

"Yeah… I think so. So you were a human but then you died and were reborn as a shinigami in the soul society?"

"No, I was not born a shinigami, just like soldiers here are not born soldiers."

"That is so freaky."

"Hardly."

"Do you have any of your human memories?" I asked, wouldn't that be cool if he did? That would be like a walking, living (sort of), history text book!

"Some souls keep bits of their memory. If I did, I have long since forgotten them."

"So how old are you?" I asked, this is a piece of information I have been dying to know (pun not intended, ha-ha)

"In human years, really old. In soul society years, not so old."

"You are not going to give me an exact number are you?"

"I don't really know."

"How can you not know?!"

"None of your business." He ended the private life conversation there.

"Well, you said you were not born a shinigami. How do souls become shinigami then?"

"…Well, like I said earlier, some people have higher spiritual levels then others. It is the same with spirits. The ones with strong spiritual energy become shinigami."

"And you are a high level shinigami? I am guessing by the white cloak and the fact Matsumoto always calls you "captain"."

"Yeah you can say that. Shinigami are sorted into divisions, thirteen in all, and each division has a captain who commands them."

"So you are one of these captains?"

"Yeah, tenth division captain."

"And how do I fit into all this?"

"Well, you are a bit of a freak." He said bluntly.

"Well thanks." I replied sarcastically.

"You obviously have spirit energy of some sort. That is shown through your strange ability to see the past of people and objects, and the fact you can see the Desperi. However, you cannot see regular spirits or hollows, which is really strange."

"But I can see you."

"Yes, but that's because I allow you to see me."

"Hu? How can you do that?"

"They have technology now in the soul society that allows you to grant certain humans the ability to see shinigami."

"Why would you want me to see you?" I was getting confused.

"Because you knew about us anyways because of your annoying seeing ability, and because you are somehow connected to the Desperi incident, but we are unsure of how."

"You think that I am… responsible for these attacks?" I asked, horrified.

"Not sure if you are responsible per say, but they are defiantly targeting you for some reason. All the attacks seem to be centered around you. If you look at where all the victims lived, you will find that none of them extend beyond the western half of Tokyo, the half closest to you."

I looked a few months back, back to when I was investigating the suicide cases. Hitsugaya was right, there did seem to be the most occurrences in the areas closest to my house.

"I don't understand…"

"Neither do I, that's why we have to make sure that you are protected, or make sure you are not the one orchestrating the attacks."

"Oh, so am I being protected or under surveillance?"

"A bit of both actually."

"Even after that incident with Hikari on the roof?"

"Even after that, you would be surprised at the kinds of horrible things evil people will do to both themselves, and the people who think of them as friends…" he trailed off as if revisiting a bad memory.

"Oh… You just told me the craziest shit ever, you know that right?"

"To you it might be crazy, just as crazy as spending thousands of dollars on clothes is to me."

I laughed at that. I felt so much more relived now that I had more of an idea of what was going on. Even if it was… insane.

"I got to go now; I have lots of paperwork to do. I highly doubt Matsumoto will do much of any of it."

"And will have to agree with you there. I have so much homework to do I could die. Oh wait… do you find death jokes offensive?"

He smirked, "Just get you homework done, Saki-san." And with that he jumped out the window and disappeared into the night.

* * *

The next morning, I woke up way to early. I had another two hours until I had leave, but I couldn't fall back asleep. I got up, and had the longest shower of life, and came back to my room feeling refreshed. I threw my towel on the couch before jumping into my school uniform. I went back to grab the towel to put it in the laundry basket else my aunt would crucify me.

I grabbed it off the couch, remembering that last night Hitsugaya sat here and told me that he was an undercover shinigami who fights evil spirits and commands an army –or at least part of one- in the place called the soul society, where people go after they die.

It was too much to take in all at once. But I guess its easier then him giving me information slowly bit by bit each day.

I flushed red when I realized I was alone in my room… with a guy. Oh god what would Aunt Kiko say? She would most defiantly disapprove.

"Just who does he think he is anyways?" I mumbled to my self, "Just breaking into my house like that, how rude."

My cell phone started ringing. I had to dump the contents of my purse out in order to find it. I got my hands on it and realized it was a text message. It was Hitsugaya, it said;

_Matsumoto and I will be gone for a few days. They have two new captain candidates, and they are about to start testing them; we have to be there for that. Try not to get killed._

Well thanks for the advice, bud. How dare he take off after dumping that shit load on me yesterday! I will make sure to have a very long and very annoying list of new questions to ask him... the first of which will defiantly involve Ghostbusters...

*** * ***

**Well that's the end of chapter SIX! I hope you all enjoyed it and smiled at least once while reading it ;P**

**Oh ! and you can all know that I wrote this chapter WITHOUT a T button on my keyboard. I was being stupid earlier on and ripped it out and broke it, so It wont go back in. whoopsies **

**I think I did better with that whole "not having everyone dying" bit, for those who want a more light hearted story. But the darkness and despair will come again because that's the sort of writer I am –no I am not emo! I just like the intensity that horror brings to a story-**

**QUESTION OF THE CHAPTER**

**- Am I the only cool person here who plays Farmville on facebook?**

**REVIEW! … NOW! (please)**


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